Ridge View scores upset on road over Goose Creek
Goose Creek head coach Chris Candor knows that he’ll be second guessed all week, but that’s the nature of the job.
With less than a minute to play in regulation, Candor and the Gators had a chance to send Friday’s game into overtime by converting an extra point against Ridge View.
Candor, in only his second game as the Gators’ head coach, decided to go for the two-point conversion and the win. Goose Creek fullback Evan Ulery was stopped just short of the goal line, and the Blazers held on for a 28-27 victory before a crowd of about 5,000 at John Fulmer Field.
“I can’t worry about what other people think, I’m just going brush off stuff like that,” Candor said. “I thought that gave our kids the best chance to win. Our defense was gassed. I didn’t think we could stop them if we got into overtime. They were just hammering us and I felt like we’ll give it a shot right here to win the game right here. We came up just short.”
Ridge View coach Perry Parks expected the Gators to go for the two-point conversion and brought in several of his bigger linemen to stuff the line of scrimmage.
“I would have done the same thing,” Parks said. “I’m not saying that because we stopped it, it’s the right call. Their fullback in their offense had killed us all night. I think that’s a 50-50 play. They run it 10 times and they score five times and we stop them five times. Kids did a great job stopping that play.”
Ridge View’s Ali Kelly, who finished with a team-high 140 rushing yards, gave the Blazers a 28-21 lead with a nifty 24-yard TD run with 3:54 to play in the fourth quarter.
“We made some adjustments in the second half offensively and the kids really responded,” Parks said. “We played a little smash-mouth football and we were able to move the ball. Ali did a great job tonight. The offensive line really got a good push up front.”
The Gators took the ensuing kickoff and marched down the field. Back-to-back completions to Dijon Profit took the ball down to the Blazers’ 21-yard line. Ulery then plowed his way into the end zone on two straight plays for the final 21 yards, scoring on an 11-yard run with just 47 seconds to play.
“We didn’t play with a whole lot of urgency until that final drive,” Candor said. “It was like it wasn’t important to us. It was a great drive, but we had too many penalties and turnovers tonight. Ridge View was the better team.”
It looked like it was going to be an easy night for the Gators, who scored on the first play from scrimmage as fullback Leandre Legree rumbled 68 yards for a TD just 27 seconds into the game. The Gators made it 14-0 on their next possession when Legree capped off a 77-yard drive with 1-yard TD run with 8:32 to go in the first quarter. Legree finished with a game-high 161 yards on the night.
“A great start to the game, but I thought we might have relaxed a little bit after those first two possessions,” Candor said. “I guess we thought it was going to be a walk in the park.”
Leading 14-7 at halftime, the Gators grabbed a 21-7 advantage when Quintavis Davis intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards for a TD early in third quarter.
But the Blazers power running game took control and scored 21 unanswered points.
“We’re just not very physical on defense and we’ve got to find some guys that want to hit someone,” Candor said
This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 11:08 PM.